Woods to receive U.S.’ highest national honour on Monday

Masters champion, Tiger Woods will visit the White House on Monday, where he would be honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders said yesterday.

According to www.tcpalm.com, President Donald Trump will honour Woods, who won his 15th major and fifth green jacket at Augusta last month.
Trump and Woods have been golfing partners in the past. Their most-recent public pairing came at Trump National in Jupiter, Florida. in February.

“President Trump will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to world-renowned golfer Tiger Woods on Monday, May 6 in the White House Rose Garden. The event will be invitation only and covered by the press,” Sanders said.

Trump earlier said he would honour Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest honour for a civilian. This came the day after Woods’ most-recent victory at Augusta National.

Woods now has 81 PGA Tour victories. He earned $2.07 million for his Masters victory and has amassed more than $118 million in career earnings. He was arrested in May of 2017 on DUI charges and later completed a pre-trial diversion programme and his probation term one month early.

The timeline between his fourth Masters victory in 2005 and fifth in 2019 also included multiple surgeries on his back and knees, a humiliating public breakup with his ex-wife, a five-year victory drought on the PGA Tour and having to relearn his golf swing and game.

Woods was expected to play in the Wells Fargo Championship this week but opted to skip the event. It was one in which he played last year.

It is now all but certain Woods will not play again until the PGA Championship, which is set for Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island from May 16 to 19.

Woods will be paired with Masters co-runner-up and 2018 PGA Championship winner, Brooks Koepka and 2018 British Open champion, Francesco Molinari in the first two rounds of that event.

Golfers, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Charlie Sifford also have Medals of Freedom. The medal ceremony for Woods is expected later this year.

The medal is considered the nation’s highest civilian honour. It is awarded to individuals deemed to have made special meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

Trump gave posthumous awards to Elvis Presley, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Babe Ruth in 2018.